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Brandon L. Griffin asks students, "Why wait to start a business when you're thirty when you can do it now?" After all, he started his first business when he was ... 10 years old!!?? Now at age 18, Brandon is a successful entrepreneur, publisher of the new FyeBye
Magazine (For Young Entrepreneurs By Young Entrepreneurs) and a soon-to-be-graduated senior in high school.
Instead of flipping burgers or waiting tables to earn extra cash, Brandon's smoozing up advertisers for his magazine, tackling client requests (clients like Nike: Sport Youth Foundation) and networking with other movers and shakers. More importantly, he's in a position to use his talents to help others. He's in a position to determine his own destiny- professionally, financially and personally. Sounds like a sweet deal, huh? Want to learn more? Keep reading ...
Campus Calm: A recent Gallop Poll shows that 69 percent of high school students want to start a small business, but 84 percent of those surveyed report that they have no preparation to do so. Do you believe that schools should be offering more classes & programs in youth entrepreneurship?
Brandon: Yes, I do believe that schools should offer more classes and courses in entrepreneurship because entrepreneurship is something that our country was built upon. We just launched an Entrepreneurship In Schools initiative with FyeBye Magazine
(click
here for more information). We're actually trying to work with the business community to get entrepreneurship into the schools by way of our magazine.
Entrepreneurship for young people is a new trend and not a lot of systems have caught on to it. However, there are some entrepreneurship charter schools and magnet schools in Chicago and even in California. A lot of entrepreneurs themselves and mentors of young people are taking it upon themselves to build these schools. Some schools, however, may offer one or two entrepreneurship classes.
We [at FyeBye Magazine] know that entrepreneurship can play a part of any subject. So it doesn't have to be an entirely new class or course. You can actually implement it into the current subjects. For example, take history and math. Business people use math everyday. History has entrepreneurs like Henry Ford. English - you have the business plan. Maybe it's not so much starting new with entrepreneurship classes but making sure we bring out the entrepreneurial skills in the subjects that we're already learning.
Campus Calm: Even if students don't want to start their own businesses how can classes in entrepreneurship help them?
Brandon: Entrepreneurs, employers, are always looking for employees with an entrepreneurial mindset. They want individuals working for them who can make decisions that are best for the company. You may find that working for an employer is the best situation for you but you will always have those entrepreneurial skills if you ever decide to go after your own endeavors.
Campus Calm: How did you get your entrepreneurial drive?
Brandon: My entrepreneurial bug comes from my family. I started my first business at the age of 10, which I called Griffin Household Press. Today, it is called BLG Publishing. At the age of 12, I started Quality Web Solutions. I got the hobby of web design from a class that was offered from my school. It was a summer program and they taught young people how to build nice, professional quality web pages. That was just a hobby but about a year or two later I took a class that was sponsored by the NAACP called the Reginald F. Lewis Youth Entrepreneurial Institute. That class taught me the basics of operating and owning a small business.
Campus Calm: Did your family encourage your entrepreneurial drive? How?
Brandon: Support goes a long way. A parent believing in what their child can do; parents taking time to listen to their child and motivating. That plays a great part. My family is an entrepreneurial family so I picked up on that. Everyone has their own thing so this was my thing. You would be surprised to know how many young people I come across who want to start a business but it's not exactly what their parents want for them. Of course go to school, get good grades and go on to college and get a good corporate job. Some things are changing now. A nice corporate job may not be as stable as it was once. For those students who do have that motivation from the family, it's so much easier.
Campus Calm: Many parents don't have the realization that teenagers can actually launch their own businesses. How can teens clue their parents in to all the possibilities?
Brandon: It's a new industry. When I wanted to first start my business, I went to the Internet and found other young people who had created businesses. I printed that out and I showed it to my parents. I said, "This is what I can do."
Campus Calm: So many kids have great ideas but they lack the confidence or the know how to realize those ideas. How did you get past the fear/rejection aspect of starting a business and invest in your dreams?
Brandon: You just can't give up. You can't give up your vision. Turn your vision into a reality. You have a vision in your mind, be confident. Make it happen. It may take awhile and you will have setbacks but somewhere down the line you will get a yes. Somewhere down the line you will be successful.
There will be a lot of people who either don't have confidence in you or who want you to do it another way. As long as you have the confidence it will pay off. So you have to stay focused and motivated.
Campus Calm: How important are mentors to students who want to find creative ways to make their own money? How can students go about finding good mentors?
Brandon: Find different organizations in your community that support youth entrepreneurship. I found my mentor through the NAACP program. You have to be careful because there are a lot of individuals out there who want to take advantage of young people. You have to be careful and the parents should really be involved.
When you do find that mentor, that person who really wants to see you be successful, WOW. They want to share with you the knowledge that they have - knowledge that took them years to gain and give it to you in a matter of days or weeks. You can always go back to your mentors to help you better your performance. I go back to my mentors whenever I get a great idea and ask for their feedback. I have many mentors and they all in different ways helped me better my performance.
Campus Calm: And then when you're successful you turn around and mentor others!
Brandon: Yes, I volunteer my time with the NAACP program to help other young entrepreneurs. I have other things that I want to do for young people in my community in the future. FyeBye Magazine is also for young people all over the country so I hope they will benefit from that as well.
Campus Calm: You run a company, you're a professional speaker, you publish a magazine, and you're a senior in high school. How do you balance the responsibility? Do you find time for fun and relaxation on a regular basis? How about time for friends?
Brandon: One of the great things about being an entrepreneur is that you can create your own schedule and I love that. It is hard because you have to be willing to make sacrifices in order to be successful. Sometimes you won't be able to go to the basketball game or you won't be able to go to the football game because you have to finish a project. You have to be willing to make those sacrifices.
However, because you're able to make your own schedule you should always work in time to share with your family and your friends. My friends and I go to the mall and have fun. I enjoy these types of things.
Campus Calm: Studies
show that stress is the number one impediment to academic success. Campus Calm believes
that stress (and not managing stress properly in particular) is the number one
impediment to success outside of school as well. How do you find positive ways
to manage stress so you can channel your creative energies toward your business
and your studies?
Brandon: One day at a time. One day at a time. And control your schedule. Make sure you have time to rest. Know your limits. Know when to give in and manage your stress. I'm a person who always thinks big. I have to learn one day at a time - small steps can actually get you to where you want to be.
Campus Calm: Do you think youth entrepreneurship contributes to students' overall well-being and sense of empowerment? How and why?
Brandon: If students have a problem they get to see from working and planning it all the way from the beginning to turning it into something. It shows them that all that hard work has paid off. It took three years of planning for FyeBye Magazine and, WOW- nothing can explain the feeling that I had when I saw the mock up edition of the magazine.
That's also why I love web design; I can take my clients' ideas and turn them into something they love at the end of the day. So it teaches students hard work, how to be determined and then they get to see the outcome at the end.
Campus Calm: Traditionally, students get good grades, build their resume and compete for jobs. An employer gives them the go-ahead, but when you're a young entrepreneur, you are completely in charge of your own destiny.
Brandon: You are rewarding yourself for your hard work. It's a powerful feeling.
Campus Calm: How do you view making mistakes and the perceived "failure" that comes along with it?
Brandon: Failure is education. You learn what works, you learn what doesn't work. When you learn what does not work, you learn not to do it again. That's the way you learn.
When I was working with websites, I learned a lot through trial and error. I just kept playing with it and found different features. On the business side, when planning for FyeBye Magazine, you get a lot of different replies from advertisers and other things when you're trying to make it happen. You don't always get the feedback you wanted to hear or you don't get the reaction you wanted to hear from a potential advertiser. You take that and you learn from it and maybe change your strategy. Some great things can come out of your struggles.
To learn more about Brandon Griffin and youth entrepreneurship, visit www.contactbrandon.com. Be
sure to check out his brand new Success
Kit 101.
(c) 2007 Maria L. Pascucci / Campus Calm.
About the author:
Maria Pascucci is the President of Campus Calm - the award-winning online-forum for today's stressed-out students, and their parents and educators. Download your Student Life Stress-Less Kit with 4 FREE gifts at www.campuscalm.com.
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